Word: mig
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When tanks and MiG aircraft zeroed in on their positions, the rebels fell back, taking an alarming number of casualties along the way. Reviewing the failed encounter, a frustrated Rahim Wardak, the battlefront commander of the National Islamic Front for Afghanistan, concluded that the battle that began more than three weeks ago "is turning into a stalemate...
...defense, the Pentagon released a dramatic videotape and voice recording of the aerial encounter taken from one of the F-14 Tomcats. The seven-minute audiotape chronicles the five evasive turns made by the Navy flyers in an effort to shake the MiG-23 "Floggers" that headed at them some 70 miles off the Libyan coast, well into international waters...
...pilots made three more efforts to shake their pursuers. Each . time, observers in a Navy E-2C radar plane flying nearby heard the Libyan ground controller order the MiG pilots to jink into potential collision courses with the Tomcats. The MiGs normally carry radar-guided Apex as well as heat-seeking Aphid missiles. While the Aphid homes in on a jet's fiery exhaust, the Apex is effective when launched at a target's nose...
Although the quality is not good, the tape concludes with a dramatic rush of pictures at the end of the dogfight--when the last Libyan MiG is suddenly within visual range...
Pentagon officials, after unveiling the cockpit tape, announced they were also releasing a still picture taken from the video tape to prove the Libyan MiG-23 Flogger jets were armed...